Federal Reserve’s rate cut was a ‘disaster’: Expert

“Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach says he believes the Fed panicked in cutting interest rates earlier this week and that short-term U.S. rates are headed for zero.

“I’m in the camp that the Fed is going to cut rates again,” Gundlach said. “When I say panicked, it doesn’t mean it’s not justified. Sometimes panic is justified.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield hit an all-time low under 0.9% just after the longtime bond investor made his comments around 12:40 p.m. ET.

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Gundlach: I expect Fed to cut rates again, maybe in two weeks

“Bond King” and DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said Thursday that he believes the Federal Reserve panicked in cutting interest rates earlier this week and that short-term U.S. rates are headed for zero.

“If we look at history, once the Fed does a panic, intermeeting rate cut, particularly when it’s 50 basis points … they typically cut pretty quickly again,” Gundlach said. “I’m in the camp that the Fed is going to cut rates again, perhaps even in two weeks” during its regularly scheduled meeting.

The action failed to ease stock market concern about the potential economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, however, but sparked a sharp drop in short-term U.S. rates. Markets remain fearful that the disease will prevent major exporters, like China, from sending components to American manufacturers and have a rippling effect on global growth.

Risk assets continued their slide Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 900 points, or 3.4%, in midafternoon trading. The Dow fell more than 1,000 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 dropped 3.3%, led lower by rate-sensitive regional and consumer-facing banks that generate profits through loans.

Federal Reserve Retools Capital Rules for Largest U.S. Banks

New Fed rule creates capital buffer tied to annual stress tests

The overhaul reflects the latest moves by the Federal Reserve to recalibrate oversight of big U.S. lenders.

PHOTO: LIU JIE/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS

By Andrew Ackerman

Updated March 4, 2020 6:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON—The Federal Reserve retooled capital rules for the largest U.S. banks, completing one of the biggest changes to the postcrisis rulebook for Wall Street during the Trump administration.

Fed officials on Wednesday said the changes would simplify rules for big banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. without posing risks to the stability of the financial system.

The overhaul “simplifies the post-crisis capital framework for banks, while maintaining the strong capital requirements that are the hallmark of the framework,” Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles said in a statement.

The overhaul reflects the latest moves by the Fed to recalibrate oversight of big U.S. lenders. Already, officials have completed separate changes aimed at easing liquidity and capital rules for regional U.S. banks and retooled speculative trading limits for large firms.

Fed governor Lael Brainard, an Obama-era appointee, cast the sole dissenting vote against the plan, saying she believed it would reduce banks’ required capital levels and the amount they set aside as a buffer above their regulatory requirements.

In a statement, she said the plan “gives a green light for large banks to reduce their capital buffers materially, at a time when payouts have already exceeded earnings for several years on average.”

Ms. Brainard said she expects a reduction in capital largely because the overhaul requires banks to set aside funds for dividend payments for four quarters, down from the current nine.

But Mr. Quarles said the changes would maintain the overall level of capital in the system and modestly increase required capital levels for the largest firms. His estimates were based on stress-test data from 2013 to 2019, he said.

Parts of the overhaul are likely to be welcomed by big banks, including changes that streamline aspects of stress tests, which require 34 large banks to show how they would weather simulated market and economic shocks.

Wednesday’s plan reduces the total number of big-bank capital requirements to eight from 13, the Fed said. For large Wall Street firms, those changes could be offset by a new “stress capital buffer.”

Banks’ annual stress-test results would be used to calculate the size of the new buffer, which the firms would have to meet during the ensuing year. If a firm’s capital fell below this level, it would face limits on its capital distributions and bonus payments.

Under the Trump administration, regulators have sought to soften the impact of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which was intended to prevent another financial crisis, saying its requirements were too stringent and inflexible.

A law signed by President Trump in 2018 rolled back restrictions for banks with less than $250 billion in assets and served as the impetus for further regulatory changes.

Some of Wednesday’s changes incorporate adjustments sought by banks. The Fed’s stress tests would assume lenders restrain growth in their balance sheets during stressful periods, which doesn’t happen under current rules. That would likely have the effect of boosting banks’ capital levels in the stress tests.

The Fed held off on making some changes to the stress tests envisioned by Mr. Quarles, such as incorporating a dormant policy tool to combat credit crunches in a downturn known as the countercyclical capital buffer. The Fed would have to separately propose such changes.

Story 2: Stocks Prices Up and Down — COVID-19 100,000 Plus Confirmed Cases and 3,300 Plus Deaths Rising — Still Way Behind Estimated 18,000-46,000 Influenza Flu Deaths and 14 Million to 21 Million of Influenza Flu Cases in United States Alone! — Test Early and Often — Videos

Stocks plunged on Thursday, erasing most of the steep gains in the previous session, as markets remained highly volatile in the face of the fast-spreading coronavirus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day 969.58 points, or 3.5%, lower at 26,121.28 after tanking nearly 1,150 at its session low. The S&P 500 dropped 3.3%, or 106.18, to 3,023.94 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.1%, or 279.49, to 8,738.60. All 11 S&P sectors finished the day in the red. Stocks turned sharply lower as the 10-year Treasury yield fell to an all-time low below 0.9%.

Fears about the coronavirus disrupting the global economy continued to grip Wall Street as countries around the world extended quarantines and travel restrictions. California declared a state of emergency after a coronavirus-related death and 53 confirmed cases in the state. The number of infections in New York also doubled overnight to 22 as the state ramps up its testing.

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Stocks dropped sharply again because of the fast-spreading coronavirus

“The majority of this is just growing concern about the fallout from the virus because it’s spreading,” said Tom Essaye, founder of the Sevens Report. “For every hour, another group of people have it and it’s in another state. People are getting a bit nervous about this constant barrage of headlines.”

That angst fueled investor demand for safer assets like U.S. Treasurys and gold. The tumbling yields kept pressure on bank stocks, which led the major indexes lower. JPMorgan and Bank of America both dropped about 5%.

Airline stocks also took a huge beating, leading the declines in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which dipped into bear market territory Thursday. United Airlines cratered 13.4%, while American Airlines tanked 13.2%, suffering its worst day since 2016.

The market moves came amid a roller-coaster week on Wall Street, which saw the 30-stock Dow swinging 1,000 points or higher twice in the past three days.

The Dow posted its second-biggest point gain on Wednesday as major wins from former Vice President Joe Biden during Super Tuesday sparked a relief rally, especially in the health-care sector. Investors also cheered signs of a global response to the outbreak, including a more than $8 billion in emergency funding from Congress.

“The optimism coming off Super Tuesday has come and gone and we reverted to being driven by fear over the containment of the virus and the impact it’s going to have on the global economy down the road,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade.

“Despite the rally in stocks [Wednesday], Treasury yields and gold prices did not respond in-kind,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. “None of the other markets saw the kinds of moves yesterday that would indicate that we’re out of the woods on the negative impact of the coronavirus. In other words, many other markets are still sending up warning signals.”

Investors will monitor a key jobs report on Friday for signs of any negative impact on the labor market from the coronavirus. The U.S. economy is expected to have added 175,000 jobs in February, down from 225,000 in January.

Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke last month at the California Department of Public Health. He announced a state of emergency in the state on Wednesday.Credit…Max Whittaker for The New York Times

A cruise ship bound for California is believed linked to the first U.S. death outside Washington State.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday that a cruise ship returning to California from Hawaii that had suspected links to two coronavirus cases, one of them fatal, was being held off the coast of San Francisco, as public health officials prepared to screen everyone on the ship.

Eleven passengers and 10 crew members on the boat were showing symptoms on Wednesday, the governor said. “That number may significantly understate” the scope of infection, he said, or “it may indeed be abundance of caution.”

“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” Mr. Newsom added.

The governor also announced that the state was declaring a state of emergency to help mobilize its response to the coronavirus outbreak. The number of cases in the state shot up to 54 on Wednesday, the most in the nation.

Governor Newsom said that about 2,500 people, more than half of them Californians, had been aboard the ship, identified by its owners as the Grand Princess, during a recent voyage from San Francisco to Mexico. One of those passengers died Wednesday in Placer County, Calif., the first U.S. coronavirus death outside Washington State and the 11th overall. Another passenger was being treated for the illness in Sonoma County. State and federal officials were racing to contact others who had been on board.

Mr. Newsom said the ship had gone on to Hawaii after its stop in Mexico, and then had sailed back toward California with some of the passengers from the original San Francisco-to-Mexico leg of the voyage still on board.

The person who died in Placer County had underlying health conditions and had been in isolation at a hospital after falling ill. Officials believe the patient was probably exposed to the virus on the San Francisco-to-Mexico leg of the voyage last month.

The New York Times would like to hear from health care providers who are struggling to get patients tested for coronavirus or are having difficulty getting sufficient medical supplies. Please email us at coronavirus@nytimes.com. A reporter may contact you to follow up. Thank you.

Health officials in Los Angeles County announced six new cases on Wednesday, and Santa Clara County announced three more cases. The virus has been detected across the United States, but so far has been concentrated on the West Coast.

A person who conducted medical screenings at Los Angeles International Airport tested positive for the virus, the Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday. The person last worked at the airport on Feb. 21, eight days before showing symptoms of infection, the agency said.

Each of the six new cases reported by Los Angeles County was linked to a known exposure, a history of international travel or contact with someone who had traveled or been diagnosed with the virus, officials said.

Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak

The virus has infected more than 97,800 people in at least 81 countries.

A Facebook contractor in Seattle has tested positive for the virus.

Facebook on Wednesday said that a worker in the company’s Seattle offices tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, making it the second major tech company in the city to be affected by the outbreak.

The tech industry is vital to the economy of Washington State, where a cluster of infections has taken root and 10 people have died, leading companies there to take extra measures to halt the spread of the virus.

“A contractor based in our Stadium East office has been diagnosed with Covid-19,” said Andy Stone, a company spokesman. “We’ve notified our employees and are following the advice of public health officials to prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”

The Seattle area is Facebook’s largest engineering outpost outside of its Bay Area headquarters. It had 5,000 employees in the region as of last September, when it announced plans to expand even more.

2019-2020 U.S. Flu Season: Preliminary Burden Estimates

CDC estimates* that, from October 1, 2019, through February 22, 2020, there have been:

32,000,000 – 45,000,000
flu illnesses

14,000,000 – 21,000,000
flu medical visits

310,000 – 560,000
flu hospitalizations

18,000 – 46,000
flu deaths

*Because influenza surveillance does not capture all cases of flu that occur in the U.S., CDC provides these estimated ranges to better reflect the larger burden of influenza. These estimates are calculated based on CDC’s weekly influenza surveillance data and are preliminary.

This web page provides weekly, preliminary estimates of the cumulative in-season numbers of flu illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States. CDC does not know the exact number of people who have been sick and affected by influenza because influenza is not a reportable disease in most areas of the U.S. However, CDC has estimated the burden of flu since 2010 using a mathematical model that is based on data collected through the U.S. Influenza Surveillance System, a network that covers approximately 8.5% of the U.S. population (~27 million people).

Limitations

The estimates of the cumulative burden of seasonal influenza are subject to several limitations.

First, the cumulative rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations reported during the season may be an under-estimate of the rate at the end of the season because of identification and reporting delays.

Second, rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations were adjusted for the frequency of influenza testing and the sensitivity of influenza diagnostic assays. However, data on testing practices during the 2019-2020 season are not available in real-time. CDC used data on testing practices from the past influenza seasons as a proxy. Burden estimates will be updated at a later date when data on contemporary testing practices become available.

Third, estimates of influenza-associated illness and medical visits are based on data from prior seasons, which may not be accurate if the seriousness of illness or patterns of care-seeking have changed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the cumulative burden of influenza for the 2019-2020 season mean?

The cumulative burden of influenza is an estimate of the number of people who have been sick, seen a healthcare provider, been hospitalized, or died as a result of influenza since October 01, 2018. CDC does not know the exact number of people who have been sick and affected by influenza because influenza is not a reportable disease in most areas of the United States. However, these numbers are estimated using a mathematical model, based on observed rates of laboratory-confirmedinfluenza-associated hospitalizations.

How does CDC estimate the cumulative burden of seasonal influenza?

Preliminary estimates of the cumulative burden of seasonal influenza during the 2019-2020 season in the United States are based on crude rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations, reported through the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET), which were adjusted for the frequency of influenza testing during recent prior seasons and the sensitivity of influenza diagnostic assays. Rates of hospitalization were then multiplied by previously estimated ratio of hospitalizations to symptomatic illnesses, and frequency of seeking medical care to calculate symptomatic illnesses, medical visits, and deaths associated with seasonal influenza, respectively.

Why does the estimate of cumulative burden change each week?

The estimates of cumulative burden of seasonal influenza are considered preliminary and may change each week as new laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations are reported to CDC. New reports include both new admissions that have occurred during the reporting week and also patients admitted in previous weeks that have been newly reported to CDC.

How does the number of flu hospitalizations estimated so far this season compare with previous end-of-season hospitalization estimates?

The number of hospitalizations estimated so far this season is lower than end-of-season total hospitalization estimates for any season since CDC began making these estimates. This table also summarizes all estimated influenza disease burden, by season, in U.S. from 2010-11 through 2017-18.

The x-axis is a timeline starting October 5, 2019 and extending to May 30, 2020.

There is a single blue-shaded curve labeled with “2019/20”.

There are several other lines on the right side of the graph under Total hospitalizations at end of past seasons. The lines are labeled, from top to bottom, as 2018/19, 2017/18, 2014/15, 2016/17, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2015/16, 2010/11, and 2011/12 and represent the estimated burden for these seasons. This allows for the comparison of the current season to past seasons.

Virus Testing Blitz Appears to Keep Korea Death Rate Low

(Bloomberg) — Highly contagious and manifesting in some with little or no symptoms, the coronavirus has the world struggling to keep up. But when it comes to containing the epidemic, one country may be cracking the code — by doubling down on testing.

South Korea is experiencing the largest virus epidemic outside of China, where the pneumonia-causing pathogen first took root late last year. But unlike China, which locked down a province of more than 60 million people to try and stop the illness spreading, Korea hasn’t put any curbs on internal movement in place, instead testing hundreds of thousands of people everywhere from clinics to drive-through stations.

It appears to be paying off in a lower-than-average mortality rate. The outbreak is also showing signs of being largely contained in Daegu, the city about 150 miles south of Seoul where most of the country’s more than 5,700 infections have emerged. South Korea reported the rate of new cases dropped three days in a row.

It’s an approach born out of bitter experience.

An outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2015 killed 38 people in South Korea, with a lack of kits to test for the MERS pathogen meaning infected patients went from hospital to hospital seeking help, spreading the virus widely. Afterward, the country created a system to allow rapid approval of testing kits for viruses which have the potential to cause pandemics.

When the novel coronavirus emerged, that system allowed regulators to collaborate quickly with local biotech companies and researchers to develop testing kits based on a genetic sequence of the virus released by China in mid-January. Firms were then granted accreditation to make and sell the kits within weeks –a process that usually takes a year.

In a short space of time, South Korea has managed to test more than 140,000 people for the novel coronavirus, using kits with sensitivity rates of over 95%, according to the director of the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine.

That’s in stark contrast to countries like its neighbor Japan and the U.S., where the issues China experienced early on — with unreliable and inadequate testing resulting in thousands of infected patients not being quarantined until it was too late — are now threatening to play out.

Testing widely has meant South Korea knows where its infections are centered, and so far they’ve been able to keep them largely contained with outbreaks beyond Daegu in the minority. In the capital Seoul, home to 10 million people, there have only been 103 infections.

President Moon Jae-in has cast the virus fight as a battle, saying the country is “at war,” with a pathogen that’s killed 3,200 people globally and sickened more than 94,000. With parliamentary elections due in April, his government is under pressure to curb the outbreak and has faced criticism for not closing the border fully to travelers from China. Moon’s administration is seizing on the country’s testing apparatus as a solution.

The emphasis on diagnosis is also being credited with helping patients get treatment early, bringing the mortality rate from the virus to under 1% — below every other affected country save Singapore, where the outbreak is on a much smaller scale.

How One Patient Turned Korea’s Virus Outbreak Into an Epidemic

“The coronavirus is highly contagious and even those without symptoms can transmit the virus, which makes it hard to stop infection among communities,” said Lee Hyukmin, director at the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine and a professor at Yonsei Severance Hospital. “Without enough testing capabilities, the death rate will be high as the delay worsens the damage in the lungs.”

By late February, when South Korea’s outbreak began to accelerate, four local companies had approval to sell kits to test for the virus. The country is now able to test more than 10,000 people a day. In neighboring Japan, only 2,684 people in total have been tested as of March 3.

The tests can deliver results within hours, with sensitivity rates of over 90% and are relatively easy to administer. Officials in Seoul have started operating “drive-through” testing stations in three districts where people can get tested without leaving their cars.

The country is also exporting its testing kits elsewhere, including to China, Europe and Pakistan, according to the manufacturers.

Seegene Inc., a diagnostics company based in Seoul, started developing its coronavirus testing kit during the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.

“It was an adventurous investment for the company to start developing the test kit, as we weren’t sure how contagious the virus would be at the time,” said Park Yo-han, an investor-relations manager at Seegene. “We thought we needed to contribute to society.”

The company’s stock fell slightly Thursday after soaring 21% this year on expectations its sales will grow.

While pharmaceutical giants like Roche Holding AG have also developed reliable coronavirus testing kits, Seegene can churn out tests more quickly using a production system automated with artificial intelligence, said Shin Jae-hoon, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities Co.

The country’s inroads in test kit production also reflect South Korea’s position as a powerhouse for complex manufacturing, with electronic parts like memory chips and OLED displays that go into smartphones and laptops made there. The country spends more of its economic output on scientific and technological research than its most advanced rivals like Japan and Germany.

In Hubei province, the region of China which has been devastated by the virus and is still under mass quarantine, the shortage of tests and their tendency to throw up false negatives meant that thousands of infected patients were not hospitalized before they spread the virus widely to other people.

“China used massive social distancing to respond to the outbreak, but that would be difficult to replicate in most countries and might have adverse economic consequences,” said Ben Cowling, associate professor at the School of Public Health of University of Hong Kong.

Similar issues are now cropping up elsewhere. Japan is facing criticism for a failure to test widely and well: two passengers let off a cruise ship the country locked down for weeks in Yokohama harbor to contain the virus tested positive after they returned home. Local officials from Tokyo to further-flung prefectures like Wakayama say they don’t have enough test kits.

The U.S. case tally — at 126 infections and 11 deaths — has some speculating the country just isn’t testing enough. New York and Florida have complained of faulty tests and a shortage of supply, and fewer than 2,000 people have been been checked for the virus nationally as of last week.

Similar scenarios are playing out other virus hot spots like Iran and Italy. Expanded testing will likely show that transmission within communities has been taking place for longer than realized, said Raina MacIntyre, professor of infectious diseases at the University of New South Wales. “In the US, the emergence of cases with no risk factors suggests that community transmission is a serious concern,” she said.

For South Korea, widespread testing has helped it get a handle on the scale of the epidemic, but once diagnosed with the virus patients need to be isolated and treated. In Daegu, hospital beds are running out and public anger is rising over a shortage of masks and other supplies.

“We are testing people on the biggest scale, at the fastest pace in the world, and disclosing the results transparently and instantly to public,” Moon said in a speech on Tuesday. “We believe this is the best thing we can do for now in order to prevent further spread in local communities.”

(Updates with latest coronavirus data throughout)

–With assistance from Jihye Lee.

To contact the reporters on this story: Heejin Kim in Seoul at hkim579@bloomberg.net;Sohee Kim in Seoul at skim847@bloomberg.net;Claire Che in Beijing at yche16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Chang at wchang98@bloomberg.net, Emma O’Brien

WATCH: Health officials address COVID-19 response at Senate hearing

McConnell Discusses Supplemental Funding to Combat Coronavirus

Senate passes COVID-19 spending bill 96-1, awaits POTUS sign-off

The Senate passed by a vote of 96-1 the spending bill for the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), which will be on President Donald Trump’s desk by week’s end. The bill provides $7.8 billion in new funds to tackle the outbreak and another $490 million in existing funds for telehealth, all with the aim of speeding the response to the pathogen.

The sole nay vote was posted by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who had floated an amendment to provide an offset for the new appropriations with a rescind of monies for unobligated balances for international programs. That amendment faltered, although the amendment drew 16 aye votes against the 80 nay votes. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) urged his colleagues to vote yes on the spending bill (H.R. 6074), citing the urgency of containing the pathogen, a sentiment seconded by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who emphasized the bipartisan nature of the support.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) noted that many businesses and school districts in the state of Washington are shutting down due to the large volume of diagnoses in the Evergreen State. Cantwell said authorities in King County, Washington, are recommending that some residents, including those aged 60 or older, avoid public places, adding that airlines urgently need guidance on how to avoid spreading the virus.

“We need these funds, we need them now, and we need other states to observe the early testing,” Cantwell said, adding, “let’s get as aggressive about early testing as possible.”

Convention cancellations piling up

The impact of the virus on meetings was already being felt before the Senate vote, with the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announcing that its annual meeting was cancelled. Karen Groppe, senior director of communications at Chicago-based HIMSS, said in a March 5 statement that the potential reach of the virus had expanded in the 24 hours prior to the decision, likely a reference to the three confirmed cases in the state of Florida (the meeting was to be held March 9-13 in Orlando, Fla.). At the time of the vote, the U.S. CDC was working to confirm a fourth diagnosis in Florida.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) said in a March 3 statement that its annual meeting, scheduled for March 28-30 in Chicago, will take place as scheduled, although ACC leadership is monitoring developments.

CMS had created a new health care common procedure coding system (HCPCS) code for coronavirus testing in February (U0001), and has sent an email to Medicare beneficiaries stating that tests are covered via the Part B benefit, assuming a health care professional orders the test. Tests were covered by Medicare as of Feb. 4, but Medicare administrative contractors will not process claims until April 1. The Department of Health and Human Services said it plans to purchase 500 million N95 masks to add to the federal government’s stockpile, which would in turn prompt manufacturers to turn out more production.

Two members of Congress, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), penned a March 4 letter to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America inquiring into the prospects for drug shortages stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. The letter asks for information pertaining to the availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured in China, and copied the executives with several pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., and Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on a March 4 coronavirus task force briefing that in addition to the FDA’s emergency use authorization, major diagnostic companies have decided to offer diagnostics for the pathogen. Quest Diagnostics Inc. of Secaucus, N.J., said it will begin screening for the virus March 9, although the company did not indicate how many tests it would be able to conduct.

The American Telehealth Association, of Arlington, Va., said in a March 5 statement that the inclusion of funds for telehealth in the COVID-19 legislation and a concomitant waiver of telehealth restrictions will allow timely diagnoses and treatment while cutting down on the spread of the virus. Ann Mond Johnson, the association’s CEO, said, “we are heartened by the swift actions being taken by Congress” to address the crisis, adding that the situation highlights the benefits of telehealth in both routine care and during public health crises.

Johnson said also that the CMS should implement the waiver authority as quickly as possible to ensure that health care professionals understand the requirements and to “help speed the deployment of virtual services.”

Mike Pence admitted Thursday that the administration will not be able to follow meet its promise to deliver one million coronavirus testing kits by the end of the week.

‘We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate the demand going forward,’ Pence said during a visit to a 3M Company plant in Minnesota Thursday afternoon.

‘We’re focused very much on a cruise ship just off the California coast today. The Coast Guard delivered a sufficient number of tests for the passengers on that ship,’ the vice president said.

Pence spoke after Trump boasted in a tweet that there were only 129 cases of the virus in the U.S. – but that number is a result of the tiny number of tests which have so far taken place.

The unfolding test fiasco started in January.

The initial test developed to check individuals for if they had contracted coronavirus was flawed and led to several weeks of delays for local health officials and doctors who could not independently check patients for the fast-spreading respiratory virus.

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the White House would not be able to follow through on its promise to deliver 1 million coronavirus testing kits by the end of this week

On way to crisis zone: Mike Pence went first to Maplewood, Minnesota, for talks with manufacturer 3M, then was headed to Washington state where 10 of the 12 American deaths occurred

‘We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate the demand going forward,’ Pence admitted during a visit to a 3M Company plant in Minnesota Thursday afternoon

Boast: Pence spoke after Trump boasted in a tweet that there were only 129 cases of the virus in the U.S. – but that number is a result of the tiny number of tests which have so far taken place.

The CDC says six states are not currently testing for coronavirus but are ‘in progress’: Alabama, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming. But MaineHealth said it has begun testing and is sending samples to the CDC

Instead, doctors had to send samples off to the Centers for Disease Control for confirmation.

‘As more Americans take an interest in this or have concerns about this, we want to make sure they have access to the coronavirus test as well and we’ve made real progress on that in the last several days,’ Pence continued in remarks at the manufacturing plant in Minnesota.

In Washington D.C. the surgeon general, Jerome Adams, refused to answer questions from reporters but did appear on Fox News where he was not asked about testing kits.

So far 12 Americans have died after contracting coronavirus – 11 in Washington state and one in California.

There are more than 150 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of Wednesday as the president continues to downplay the outbreak.

The nation’s top immunologist at National Institute of Health, Anthony Fauci, said the virus has reached ‘pandemic proportions.’

Promises of accurate testing results come after changes have been made to the kits – but the news is accompanied by confusion over the messaging of when they will become available for use.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephan Hahn earlier this week told senators during a hearing that the U.S. would be able to perform 1 million tests by the end of this week, which Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar backed up during a White House briefing Wednesday.

Pence also said at the Wednesday briefing that 1.5 million tests would be going out this week.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS?

Like other coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold and that triggered SARS, COVID-19 is a respiratory illness.

The most common symptoms are:

Fever

Dry cough

Shortness of breath

Difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Although having a runny nose doesn’t rule out coronavirus, it doesn’t thus far appear to be a primary symptom.

Most people only become mildly ill, but the infection can turn serious and even deadly, especially for those who are older or have underlying health conditions.

In these cases, patients develop pneumonia, which can cause:

Potentially with yellow, green or bloody mucus

Fever, sweating and shaking chills

Shortness of breath

Rapid or shallow breathing

Pain when breathing, especially when breathing deeply or coughing

Low appetite, energy and fatigue

Nausea and vomiting (more common in children)

Confusion (more common in elderly people)

Some patients have also reported diarrhea and kidney failure has occassionally been a complication.

Avoid people with these symtpoms. If you develop them, call your health care provider before going to the hospital or doctor, so they and you can prepare to minimize possivle exposure if they suspect you have coronavirus.

But that claim fell apart Thursday as senators revealed that the testing kits would not be delivered in the capacity promised.

‘There won’t be a million people to get a test by the end of the week,’ Republican Senator Rick Scott said Thursday, according to Bloomberg News.

‘It’s way smaller than that. And still, at this point, it’s still through public health departments.’

While the government is ‘in the process’ of sending kits out, lawmakers said the process could take days to weeks as people are trained on how to use them.

‘By the end of the week they’re getting them out to the mail,’ Republican Senator James Lankford said. ‘It’s going to take time to be able to get them, receive them, re-verify them and then be able to put them into use.’

The issue is affecting people around the country, with the CDC saying six states are currently not testing for coronavirus.

The federal health agency published a map of all states and territories with at least one laboratory using diagnostic tests for the disease.

Almost every states is listed as currently testing for coronavirus, except Alabama, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Those six states are currently listed as being ‘in progress,’ according to the map key.

However, MaineHealth announced that it has begun testing and is sending samples to the CDC.

Maine say it has begun testing and is sending swabs from test kits to the CDC.

Oklahoma’s Department of Health announced on Tuesday that it plans to do its own coronavirus testing.

The Ohio Department of Health says it will be conducted its own testing later this week and Alabama and Wyoming say they’re in the process of setting up their laboratories.

Meanwhile, Washington state officials are urging patience as medical staff report fear and anger among people told they could not be tested for the coronavirus due to limited capacity.

Clinics in the Seattle area reported an increase in patients seeking tests after the state reported 39 cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths.

Health officials and front-line medical staff in Seattle’s King County, the location of most cases, asked mildly sick people to stay home rather than inundate clinics and hospitals for tests and risk infecting others.

Thousands of passengers are currently on the Grand Princess cruise ship that was banned on Wednesday from returning to its home port of San Francisco from a voyage to Hawaii amid the suspected coronavirus outbreak (file image)

‘We know there is huge demand out there for testing, we know there are a lot of people in our state who are sick and they want to know if they have [coronavirus],’ state health officer Kathy Lofy said at a news conference.

‘I want to tell you we are doing everything possible to expand testing capacity here in our state.’

Nurse practitioner Paula Ruedebusch, who works at an urgent care clinic in the Seattle suburb of Monroe, asked patients not to take out frustrations on front-line medical staff.

‘We have had patients presenting here, angry that they cannot be tested for COVID-19, yelling, cussing, throwing their dirty mask at us and even spitting their secretions on the floor and walls on their way out,’ Ruedebusch wrote on Facebook.

‘Please don’t do that. We are not the ones making the decisions here, we are just the ones trying to triage, manage and treat those who are sick and injured…and, that is just gross.

Map showing the numbers of cases of the coronavirus per country

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEING TESTED FOR CORONAVIRUS

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence announced that any American can be tested for coronavirus as long as a doctor approves it.

The move appears to expand upon previous criteria needed for testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

But how do you determine if you have symptoms of COVID-19 and when you should see a doctor?

We break down everything you need to know about being tested for the virus that has infected more than 120 Americans and killed at least nine.

WHAT ARE THE LATEST GUIDELINES FOR BEING TESTED?

There are three groups of people that the CDC recommends get tested.

1. People with symptoms such as fever, cough or shortness of breath who have been in ‘close contact’ with someone confirmed to have coronavirus

2. Patients with symptoms who have traveled to areas affected by the virus within the last 14 days

3. Those with symptoms who need to be hospitalized and no other cause for their illness is found. They don’t need to have a travel history or exposure to another patient

HOW DOES THIS DIFFER FROM THE PREVIOUS CRITERIA?

When the CDC first began testing, only those with a travel history to China – where the outbreak emerged – or those who had been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus patient were tested.

However, the agency says its criteria for testing is always ‘subject to change as additional information becomes available.’

WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED A TEST?

Health officials strongly advise that anyone who believes they may be infected not show up unannounced at their doctor’s office in case they expose others to the highly-contagious disease.

Story 4: World Health Organization Appeals To Governments to Pull Out The Stops To Contain COVID-19 — Videos

WHO Urges the Globe to ‘Pull Out the Stops’ Against Coronavirus Outbreak

How to protect yourself against COVID-19

This is not a drill’: WHO urges the world to fight virus

By MATT SEDENSKY and JOHN LEICESTER34 minutes ago

The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal Thursday from the World Health Organization for governments to pull out “all the stops” to slow the epidemic, as it drained color from India’s spring festivities, closed Bethlehem’s Nativity Church and blocked Italians from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes.

As China, after many arduous weeks, appeared to be winning its epic, costly battle against the new virus, the fight was revving up in newly affected areas of the globe, unleashing disruptions that profoundly impacted billions of people.

The U.N. health agency urged all countries to “push this virus back,” a call to action reinforced by figures showing about 17 times as many new infections outside China as in it. The virus has infected nearly 98,000 people and killed over 3,300.

“This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. “Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans.”

In Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, workers in latex gloves pinned “closed” notices on school gates, enforcing a 10-day shutdown of the education system. Italy’s sports-mad fans are also barred from stadiums until April 3.

A government decree that took effect Thursday urged the country’s famously demonstrative citizens to stay at least 1 meter (3 feet) apart from each other, placed restrictions on visiting nursing homes and urged the elderly not to go outside unless absolutely necessary.

That directive appeared to be widely ignored, as school closures nationwide left many Italian children in the care of their grandparents. Parks in Rome overflowed with young and old, undercutting government efforts to shield older Italians from the virus that hits the elderly harder than others. Italy has the world’s oldest population after Japan.

“It’s an absolute paradox!” said Mauro Benedetti, a 73-year-old retiree called upon to watch his grandson. “They tell us to stay home. How can we help our kids and grandkids at the same time?”

“Grandparents are now at risk,” he said.

Italy’s death toll climbed Thursday to 148, and its confirmed cases to 3,858.

Iran, which has registered 107 virus deaths, also closed schools and universities and introduced checkpoints to limit travel between major cities. Iranians were urged to reduce their use of paper money. Iranian state TV also reported that Hossein Sheikholeslam, a 68-year-old diplomat who was an adviser to Iran’s foreign minister, had died of the virus.

Amid the string of bad news, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged state television to offer “happier” programs to entertain those stuck at home.

Brian Hook, the U..S. special representative for Iran, said the United States offered humanitarian assistance to help Iran deal with its outbreak but “the regime rejected the offer.” He said the offer would stand.

Virus fears also affected the joyful Indian celebration of Holi, in which Hindu revelers celebrate the arrival of spring with bursts of color, including bright powders smeared on faces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders said they wouldn’t attend Holi events and the Holi Moo Festival in New Delhi was canceled.

In the United States, where 12 have died from the virus, hundreds were placed in self-quarantines due to cases in a New York suburb. A suburban Seattle school district with 22,000 students announced it would close for up to two weeks because of coronavirus concerns and Seattle’s normally clogged highways were nearly vacant for Thursday’s morning commute as large tech employers like Amazon encouraged employees to work from home.

In Seattle, health officials recommended that the elderly and people with weak immune systems not attend games after an employee at the 72,000-seat football stadium tested positive for the coronavirus.

Off the coast of California, a cruise ship carrying about 3,500 people was ordered to stay put until passengers and crew could be tested because a traveler from its previous voyage died and another three were infected. A helicopter delivered test kits to the ship, which has people aboard with flu-like symptoms — lowering the kits by rope to the 951-foot (290-meter) Grand Princess

Financial markets remained volatile, as investors continued to weigh the size of the epidemic’s dent on the global economy. Outbreak fears led to a sharp U.S. stock selloff, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 969 points, or 3.6 percent, nearly wiping out gains from a day earlier. Analysts said more yo-yo moves on global markets are likely while new infections accelerate.

The OPEC oil cartel called for a deep production cut to keep crude prices from falling further as disruption to global business from the coronavirus slashes demand from air travel and industry — deciding Thursday to push for a cut of 1.5 million barrels a day, or about 1.5% of total world supply.

Across the globe, travelers faced ever-greater disruptions, as countries sought to keep the virus out. But South Africa confirmed its first case Thursday, becoming the seventh African nation to report infections. Britain and Switzerland reported their first coronavirus deaths.

“The virus doesn’t care about race and belief or color. It is attacking us all, equally,” said Ian MacKay, who studies viruses at the University of Queensland in Australia.

The outlook for the travel industry was increasingly grim. The International Air Transport Association said the outbreak could cost airlines as much as $113 billion in lost revenue. The struggling British airline Flybe collapsed Thursday amid sinking demand.

Australia, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates were among the countries banning entry from people coming from countries that had outbreaks.

Germany’s Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss said they will cancel all flights to and from Israel for three weeks starting Sunday after Israeli authorities announced tough restrictions on travelers from several countries because of the new virus.

Palestinian officials closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely, weeks ahead of the busy Easter holiday.

Japan said visitors from China and South Korea would face a two-week quarantine at a government facility and be barred from public transit. Sri Lankans arriving from Italy, South Korea and Iran will be quarantined at a hospital once used for leprosy patients.

In China, where hospitals were releasing hundreds of recovered patients, officials reported 139 new infection cases and 31 more deaths. Overall, China has reported 80,409 cases and 3,012 deaths, and authorities say about 6,000 people remained hospitalized in serious condition.

A state visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping was postponed. It was to have been the first for a Chinese leader since 2008.

___

Sedensky is an AP National Writer. Leicester reported from Paris. Contributing to this report were Kim Tong-Hyung and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Aniruddha Ghosal and Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Nicole Winfield in Rome, Geir Moulson in Berlin; Stan Choe in New York; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Elaine Ganley in Paris, and Danica Kirka in London.

___

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Story 5: Senator Warren Withdraws From Race Blames Sexism — Nonsense — American People Have Their Own Plans That Do Not Include Warren — Will She Endorse Male Progressive Bernie Sanders — Too Little — Too Late — Videos

Elizabeth Warren drops out of U.S. presidential race, offers no endorsement | FULL

‘Not today’: Elizabeth Warren declines to endorse Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders after she finally quits presidential race but says she WILL have more to say about ‘sexism’

Massachusetts senator pulls the plug on her campaign

But she did not immediately endorse either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders

‘Not today. I need some space around this, and I want to take a little time to think a little more,’ she said outsider her home in Massachusetts

Warren had been in talks with both campaigns since her dismal Super Tuesday showing when she even failed to win Massachusetts

Warren led the field early on but saw her star slowly fade as Pete Buttigieg won Iowa, Sanders took New Hampshire and Biden won South Carolina

Her biggest prize was effectively driving Mike Bloomberg out of the race by tearing into him at the two debates he took part in

Trump mocked her throughout her campaign as Pocahontas over her claims to have Native American heritage

Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential campaign on Thursday but is not endorsing either of the two remaining candidates – Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders – at least not yet.

‘Not today. I need some space around this, and I want to take a little time to think a little more. I’ve been spending a lot of time right now on the question of suspending and also making sure that this works as best we can for our staff, for our team, for our volunteers,’ she told reporters outside her home in Cambridge, Mass.

‘We don’t have to decide that this minute,’ she noted, saying she would advise her supporters to ‘take a deep breath’ and think about who they would want to give their blessing.

Warren bowed out after failing to win any states in the Democratic primary process – even losing her home state of Massachusetts.

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Elizabeth Warren declined to endorse either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders after she dropped out of the Democratic presidential race

Elizabeth Warren also said she’d have more to say about the role gender and sexism played in the Democratic primary process

She acknowledged the role gender played in the race.

‘Gender in this race, you know that is the big question for everyone. If you say, yeah, there was sexism in this race, everyone says, whiner. And if you say, no, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, what planet do you live on? I promise you this, I’ll have a lot more to say on that subject later on,’ she said.

She also referenced the ‘pinkie’ promises she made with little girls on the campaign trail about a woman being in the contest.

‘I take those pinkie promises seriously,’ she said.

Her decision means there will be a female will not win the presidential nomination after women expressed their fury at President Trump’s election.

‘The hardest part of this is all those little girls who are going to have to wait four more years. That’s going to be hard,’ she said.

She choked up a few times when she talked to the press about her decision with her husband Bruce and dog Bailey at her side.

‘I stood in that voting booth and I looked down and saw my name on the ballot. And I thought, wow, kiddo, you’re not in Oklahoma anymore. That it really was a moment of thinking about how my mother and dad, if they were still here, would feel about this,’ she said.

‘It was a long time standing in that booth. I miss my mommy and my daddy,’ she added.

Elizabeth Warren choked up a few times when she talked about her decision to exit the race

Elizabeth Warren exits her Massachusetts home with her husband Bruce to face a crowd of reporters and discuss the end of her presidential campaign

Warren announced her decision Thursday morning in a call with her staff, thanking them for their work.

‘I know that when we set out, this was not the call you ever wanted to hear. It is not the call I ever wanted to make. But I refuse to let disappointment blind me – or you – to what we’ve accomplished. We didn’t reach our goal, but what we have done together – what you have done – has made a lasting difference. It’s not the scale of the difference we wanted to make, but it matters – and the changes will have ripples for years to come,’ she said.

She also vowed that ‘our place in this fight has not ended.’

‘The fight may take a new form, but I will be in that fight, and I want you in this fight with me. We will persist,’ she said.

Her decision means that the contest is a simple two horse race between Biden, 77, and Sanders, 78, with Biden currently ahead thanks to his dramatic Super Tuesday come back.

President Trump, who called her ‘very selfish,’ for staying the race, claiming she was doing so to keep Sanders from winning the nomination, slammed her exiting the contest ‘THREE DAYS TOO LATE.’

‘Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, who was going nowhere except into Mini Mike’s head, just dropped out of the Democrat Primary…THREE DAYS TOO LATE. She cost Crazy Bernie, at least, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. Probably cost him the nomination! Came in third in Mass,’ he wrote on Twitter.

Warren, who led the field early on, saw her star slowly fade as Pete Buttigieg won Iowa, Sanders took New Hampshire and Biden won South Carolina.

Out at last: Elizabeth Warren took 36 hours to bow to the inevitable, finally quitting the presidential race Thursday morning after a disastrous Super Tuesday

Boost? Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are now clear to go against each other – and both were in talks with Elizabeth Warren for her endorsement

She has reportedly been in talks with both Biden and Sanders about her endorsement, a value that will could make her the kingmaker in the Democratic primary, particularly if she bestows it on the former vice president.

Warren, a favorite of the progressives, was never able to capture the liberal left like Sanders did.

Her blessing to him would rally the left flank of the party to his side and boost his battle against Biden.

Sanders said on Wednesday he had spoken to Warren that day and she was assessing her campaign.

‘It is important, I think, for all of us… to respect the time and the space that she needs to make her decision,’ he said.

She and Sanders saw their friendship suffer during the campaign when she claimed he told her in a December 2018 meeting that a woman could not be president. He denied the charge.

Warren also spoke with Biden on Wednesday.

President Trump had attacked Warren as ‘selfish’ for not dropping out of the race, claiming her presence was a move by the party to keep Sanders from becoming the nominee since they both appeal to the same voting block.

He accused her of playing a spoiler role in the primary process.

‘So Elizabeth Warren was the single biggest factor in that election last night and it would have been a very different thing and not in a positive way for her,’ Trump said at the White House Wednesday.

Trump had made her the subject of attacks as ‘Pocahontas’ after her botched defense of claims she had Native American heritage, which ended in a DNA test showing that she was likely to be 1,064th Indian.

Tulsi Gabbard remains the lone female candidate in the primary race but her campaign has faltered. She has not appeared on the debate stage in months, barely makes the polls, and only netted a single delegate on Super Tuesday – from American Samoa where she was born.

Warren was the last surviving woman among the major candidates however, staying in long past Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Klobuchar.

Last woman running: Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii congresswoman, remains in the race but has garnered just one delegate – from American Samoa

President Trump repeatedly attacked Elizabeth Warren as ‘Pocahontas,’ based on her claim of Native American DNA, which a test proved false

Her departure will likely raise questions about how Democrats – who brag about their diversity – came down to having two white males as their final contenders for the nomination.

Warren did, in effect, drive Mike Bloomberg from the race.

She decimated him on the debate stage, demanding to know why he wouldn’t release women from the disclosures they signed after complaints about a hostile work environment.

She demanded to know how many women and why he wouldn’t release them, leaving Bloomberg fumbling for an answer and damaging his campaign prospects.

Bloomberg exited the race on Wednesday after pouring nearly a billion dollars in trying to sweep the Super Tuesday contests – only to win American Samoa. He also endorsed Biden.

Warren was known for her policy proposals – ‘I have a plan for that’ was practically her campaign slogan – and her long lines of supporters wanting selfies.

But her many proposals also became part of her down fall. Her rivals pummeled her on her Medicare for All universal health care plan, demanding to how she would pay for it and why people who liked their insurance should give it up.

WHO ARE THE 3 DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020?

JOE BIDEN

Age on Inauguration Day 2021: 78

Entered race: April 25, 2019

Career: No current role. A University of Delaware and Syracuse Law graduate, he was first elected to Newcastle City Council in 1969, then won upset election to Senate in 1972, aged 29. Was talked out of quitting before being sworn in when his wife and daughter died in a car crash and served total of six terms. Chaired Judiciary Committee’s notorious Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. Ran for president in 1988, pulled out after plagiarism scandal, ran again in 2008, withdrew after placing fifth in the Iowa Caucuses. Tapped by Obama as his running mate and served two terms as vice president. Contemplated third run in 2016 but decided against it after his son died of brain cancer.

Family: Eldest of four siblings born to Joe Biden Sr. and Catherine Finnegan. First wife Neilia Hunter and their one-year-old daughter Naomi died in car crash which their two sons, Joseph ‘Beau’ and Robert Hunter survived. Married Jill Jacobs in 1976, with whom he has daughter Ashley. Beau died of brain cancer in 2015. Hunter’s marriage to Kathleen Buhle, with whom he has three children, ended in 2016 when it emerged Hunter was in a relationship with Beau’s widow Hallie, mother of their two children. Hunter admitted cocaine use; his estranged wife accused him of blowing their savings on drugs and prostitutes

Religion: Catholic

Views on key issues: Ultra-moderate who will emphasize bipartisan record. Will come under fire over record, having voted: to stop desegregation bussing in 1975; to overturn Roe v Wade in 1981; for now controversial 1994 Violent Crime Act; for 2003 Iraq War; and for banking deregulation. Says he is ‘most progressive’ Democrat. New positions include free college, tax reform, $15 minimum wage. No public position yet on Green New Deal and healthcare. Pro-gun control. Has already apologized to women who say he touched them inappropriately

Would make history as: Oldest person elected president

Slogan: Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead

TULSI GABBARD

Age on Inauguration Day: 39

Entered race: Still to formally file any papers but said she would run on January 11 2019

Career: Currently Hawaii congresswoman. Born on American Samoa, a territory. Raised largely in Hawaii, she co-founded an environmental non-profit with her father as a teenager and was elected to the State Legislature aged 21, its youngest member in history. Enlisted in the National Guard and served two tours, one in Iraq 2004-2006, then as an officer in Kuwait in 2009. Ran for Honolulu City Council in 2011, and House of Representatives in 2012

Family: Married to her second husband, Abraham Williams, a cinematographer since 2015. First marriage to childhood sweetheart Eduardo Tamayo in 2002 ended in 2006. Father Mike Gabbard is a Democratic Hawaii state senator, mother Carol Porter runs a non-profit.

Religion: Hindu

Views on key issues: Has apologized for anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage views; wants marijuana federally legalized; opposed to most U.S. foreign interventions; backs $15 minimum wage and universal health care; was the second elected Democrat to meet Trump after his 2016 victory

Would make history as: First female, Hindu and Samoan-American president; youngest president ever

Slogan: Lead with Love

BERNIE SANDERS

Age on Inauguration Day: 79

Entered race: Sources said on January 25, 2019, that he would form exploratory committee. Officially announced February 19

Career: Currently Vermont senator. Student civil rights and anti-Vietnam activist who moved to Vermont and worked as a carpenter and radical film-maker. Serial failed political candidate in the 1970s, he ran as a socialist for mayor of Burlington in 1980 and served two terms ending in 1989, and win a seat in Congress as an independent in 1990. Ran for Senate in 2006 elections as an independent with Democratic endorsement and won third term in 2018. Challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016 but lost. Campaign has since been hit by allegations of sexual harassment – for which he has apologized – and criticized for its ‘Bernie bro’ culture

Family: Born to a Jewish immigrant father and the daughter of Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. First marriage to college sweetheart Deborah Shiling Messing in 1964 ended in divorce in 1966; had son Levi in 1969 with then girlfriend Susan Cambell Mott. Married Jone O’Meara in 1988 and considers her three children, all adults, his own. The couple have seven grandchildren. His older brother Larry is a former Green Party councilor in Oxfordshire, England.

Religion: Secular Jewish

Views on key issues: Openly socialist and standard bearer for the Democratic party’s left-turn. Wants federal $15 minimum wage; banks broken up; union membership encouraged; free college tuition; universal health care; re-distributive taxation; he opposed Iraq War and also U.S. leading the fight against ISIS and wants troops largely out of Afghanistan and the Middle East

Would make history as: Oldest person elected president; first Jewish president